Cat with urine crystals on prescription diet, better options?

A friend of mine recently called me and asked to watch her pets (2 cats and a dog), I havent seen her in about 3 years, so the meeting was bittersweet since she lost both of her dogs to cancer as well as her 3rd cat. I didnt want to pry to much into it, but she mentioned that one of her current cats has urine crystals and is on a special diet which makes her drink a lot. I checked the bag today and its Royal Canin Renal LP Modified C.
I'm not sure whether this kitty has some renal issues as well, since I didnt want to get my friend overly emotional.
Anyways, I'm pretty well informed when it comes to dog food, but cat foods for specific conditions is not my specialty, so I was wondering if someone could suggest maybe a better option for her?
I always heard that cats with crystals do best on canned food, do you think wellness would be a good option?
here are the ingridients of the current food she feeds:
Rice, ground corn, chicken fat, chicken meal, wheat, corn gluten meal, soy protein
isolate, wheat gluten, natural flavors, powdered cellulose, chicory pulp, fish oil,
calcium carbonate, sodium silico aluminate, potassium chloride, DL-methionine,
potassium citrate, fructooligosaccharides, L-arginine, salt, taurine, choline chloride,
Vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), niacin supplement,
biotin, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine
hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin A acetate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1),
folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], Trace Minerals [zinc
oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium
selenite], marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), rosemary extract, preserved with
natural mixed tocopherols and citric acid.

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Comments

Hi Booger, that is great that you are concerned for your friends cat, and you want to help.=;
Get your friend to read the site called catinfo.org
You are right canned food that is grain free is the best, next to a raw diet. Not only for cats with Urine problems, but for all cats. We need to prevent these diseases from happening in the first place.
The prescription food is so inappropriate, it has alot of salt in it to make the cat drink more which is so unnatural, and not healthy at all. It also has grains,carbs, powdered cellulose =(sawdust). Our obligate carnivores need meat period. Wellness grain free wet is a pretty good food that is one of the kinds I feed to my 2 cats, and Shadow had struvite crystals many years ago, before I learned about feline nutrition. Both my cats have been on an all wet diet for quite some time, and Shadow has had no reoccurences of the Crystals.
Sadly most vets do not know enough about feline nutrition, they just push out these awful foods that cause so many other problems in the long run. They are taught in Vet school for a mere few hours on nutrition, and guess who teaches them? The pet food company, and these companies give out free stuff to them when they sell it in their vet practices. This food is not tested properly, our pets are the "guinea pigs" A great book to read is called " Not fit for a Dog", by Michael W Fox, Elizabeth Hodgkins, and Marion Smart.
We really need to educate ourselves, we cannot rely on these vets that are pushing these inappropriate diets. I hope that you can tell your friend all about this. Tell your friend that her cat will just have other problems down the road when on this prescription diet, her cat is also not very satisfied on this food, which makes for a grumpy kitty.
Hope this helps
P.S Also make sure the cat is not eating too much fish flavoured food, Salmon once a week is ok, but no Tuna, as Tuna changes the Ph of the urine, plus a host of other things like depleting the cat of Vitamin E, mercury content, etc...

Thanks, I will pass it on to her, theres also a bucket of mystery kibble, not sure what it is. She leaves out a dish for them all day to graze on. Do you think its best to cut out all dry food, or suggest a grain free option?
I'll have to check the cost of wellness around here because I want it to be affordable for her, but I know that prescription diets are crazy expensive.

Ok, I compiled a list of grain free canned foods that are available locally, which ones do you think are the best value?
1) Felidae grain free
2) Wellness
3)Innova Evo
4)Blue Buffalo
5)Taste of the Wild
thanks

That prescription food can be quite expensive. We like the Wellness best, out of the list you formed. Felidae may have too much salt as my strictly wet food eaters will all of a sudden drink lots of water when they eat the felidae grain free, when normally they do not, they do get the water fromt he food they eat. If she cannot afford an all wet diet, then half grain free wet, and half grain free dry like Evo cat and kitten would be ok, but I will let you read this site about dry food.
CLICK HERE

You shouldn't ever feed dry for a cat with urine crystals. You have somehting like 7% water in dry vs 78% in canned (natural cat diet is about 75%). Cats being desert animals (evolutionarily speaking) really need most of their water to be from food not drinking water.
As for the diet. Any good canned cat food (heck I'd even take junky brand canned over prescription)is better than that really junky and high priced cockapoo. MOL!
Wellness is very good and has a nice balance, but there are cats that won't eat it.
--des

Hate to gank the thread, but I've wondered, what if you put dry kibble in their bowl, and then fill the whole thing up with water, and they drink the water to get to the food? ) Kinda funny to envision, but I've also been curious about that method.

Hate to gank the thread, but I've wondered, what if you put dry kibble in their bowl, and then fill the whole thing up with water, and they drink the water to get to the food? laugh out loud Kinda funny to envision, but I've also been curious about that method.
That will result in moldy bacteria laden mushy kibble that can cause serious tummy upset ::o

You can tell your friend, that show people will not touch RC with a 10 ft pole. And after having been put on the prescription diet, Hills SD, to disolve the crystals, then Hills CD to manage the crystals, different vet, the crystals came back twice. So I did the research, and read the site that Shadow gave you.
RC and Hills have grains in them, grains are for horses, not cats, and grains are one of the causes of crystals.
:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O
And yes, Shadow is right, wet is better than dry, for a crystal cat, but, some, ah ahem, won't eat wet, so there are alternatives if that is the case. The reason wet is better, is because it has more water/moisture, per say, in it, than dry. And the key, and what is imperative, is you keep them flushed out. You do this by force increasing their water intake. You mix their wet, with water, so its soupy, twice a day.
And yes, the prescription diets, are expensive, but, the quality grain free foods, are ballpark about the same, depending on which one you get. And yes, you will in the long run, feed less of it, than you were with the RC, because its better quality food, and in the long run, less trips to the vet and $$$$$.
I feed Blue Wilderness, its by Blue Buffalo, you can get it at Petsmart or Petco. The 3 oz cans are normally $1.39, but right now, until 8/22, they are on sale for $1.09, they get 1/2 in the morn and 1/2 at night, both mixed with water, so its soupy, and believe me, their little tummies are full, mol. I would know if they are still hungry. The big Bump, will not eat wet, and he will not eat any of the better quality foods, other than BW, thats what he picked, after a very long trial of many foods. His dry is mixed with 1 teaspoon baby food, chicken or turkey, and mixed with water, so its soupy, he eats it right up, doesn't even take him 5 min, if that long.
Best of luck with your friend, and thank you for caring enough to ask, in the long run, her cat will be heathlier. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D